Page 18 - Cape-Camera-March-2022

March 2022 Cape Camera

Photographic Technique

EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH

FREEMAN PATTERSON

For some of you, Freeman Pat- went to them at every hour of the day between workshops and
terson needs no introduction shot thousands of images. By this time in my artistic life, I real-
whatsoever. You may have been ised that when something (whatever it may be) so consumes
following his work for years and me emotionally, it is functioning as a powerful personal symbol.
have perhaps attended one of However, I didn't know what the greenhouses represented for
me, nor did I try to determine the answer at the time. I just kept
his workshops during one of his on shooting.
many trips to South Africa. You
may already know why he's one Weeks later, back in Canada, I settled into a brutal editing of the
images, and slowly, it became clear what the greenhouses sym-
of Canada’s best-known and bolised. In the end, I selected eight photographs that graphi-
most-loved photographers. But cally evoked my severe illness in the late 1990s; my near-death;
for those of you who might be my two liver transplants (five days apart); my long, slow recov-
newer to photography, Freeman ery; and my eventual return to robust health. It had happened
Patterson is a New Brunswick- again: shooting entirely in response to my own feelings, I had
based photographer, educator told an important aspect of my life story.
and author, who has generously given back to the photographic The photo that got away?
community by teaching and sharing his expertise on photogra- That first series of slides I shot in Europe.
phy and visual design. He has received numerous awards and Best advice?
honours recognising his contributions to the field over his long
and influential career, including the National Film Board's Gold Above all, make photographs for yourself; regularly; and don't
Medal for Photographic Excellence, the Order of New Brunswick concern yourself for a moment about whether or not anybody
else likes them.
and the Order of Canada. Freeman was invited to present at the
upcoming PSSA Congress but unfortunately has other engage- Most unexpected thing in your photo bag?
ments during the time period and reluctantly declined. The absence of things! I have two simple, inexpensive cameras,
a short and a long zoom lens, two polarizing filters, and a tripod.
First camera? That's it!
An Argus C3, which I purchased before my first trip to Europe What superpower would you choose?
on a university scholarship in the summer of 1958. I made many I'd love to be able to travel through time, especially backward
photographs in England, Yugoslavia, and at the World's Fair in to watch the greening of the planet as plants emerged from the
Brussels, only to discover when the film was proćessed back in oceans, slowly creating the atmosphere and preparing the land
Canada that the camera's shutter didn't work and that I didn't for the eventual migration of animal life.
have a single image. However, despite my extreme disappoint- Favourite place to photograph?
ment, the concentration on seeing had me hooked, and I never Wherever I happen to be!
stopped making pictures after that. What is a normal day for you?
What did you want to be when you grew up? I have no idea.
Just about everything except a dentist! How do you balance your personal life and work life?
Why did you choose photography? As thoughtfully as I can! However, most of the time, there's no
I didn't. It chose me. I just couldn't not be a photographer. đifference between the two.
Most pivotal career experience? Favourite meal?
When I came to realize the fact that the images I made for pro- I eat mostly a wide range of vegetables, fruit, and some fish be-
fessional clients or competitions only helped me learn tools cause I like them and because I am healthier and feel "lighter"
and techniques and that it is infinitely more important to shoot than when I was eating meat. I especially like Middle Eastem
entirely for myself because, in the process, I am telling my life cuisine, except for the frequency of chicken. However, I'm not
story. Every time I reviewed my accumulating body of personal an absolutist. If, for example, you served me some beautifully
work (after having about 10 years' worth of images), I began to seasoned lamb chops, I'd eat them and really enjoy them.
recognize those elements that were changing and those that What are you reading now?
were remaining the same (in my choice of subject matter and
my choice of approach to it), and I came to realize that both the I always have one or two books "on the go", and, for the last few
changes and the constants were expressions of me. years, they have been primarily on the subjects of conscious-
However, this is more about slowly gaining a general under- ness and the implications of quantum physics - and the rela-
standing of my work than about a single pivotal experience, of tionship between them.
which I've had three, the last being an ecstatic revelation. For example, the central premise of multidisciplinary scientist
When I was teaching in the Arava desert in southern Israel in Robert Lanza's Beyond Biocentrism is that consciousness is the
2016, I took the participants in the three workshops to a number fundamental reality. The book is a "summing up" of the gradual,
of abandoned fabric greenhouses. Everybody valued the visit, highly significant change in scientific thought of the last 25
but only I became super "turned on" - so turned on, in fact, that I years about consciousness - from believing that the brain cre-

17 Cape Town Photographic Society